Lalas added of a man being charged with the task of helping America to recover from the disappointment of failing to reach the 2018 World Cup: "[Pulisic] is one of the phenoms in the world, he just happens to be American.

"There's going to be pressure to win, and to deliver. He's a very young player so he's still getting better.

"He's still physically growing, he's growing as a soccer player. There's a lot of pressure on his shoulders to lead us [USMNT] into the Promised Land.

"But if you're the man, you're gonna take it and say: 'Yeah, on my watch, we're going to make sure we qualify for the next World Cup. I am going to lead this team by example'."

Pulisic's current contract with Dortmund is only due to run until the summer of 2020, so they may be forced into a sale at some point.

They can demand a hefty fee for his services at this stage, but the strength of their hand in talks will start to wane as terms run down.